Rain

Winds and rain coming
through tonight. It is
more than tut , tut..it looks
like rain! I listened to an
audio of Winnie the Pooh
today mainly because of the
narrators . All British.
Judi Dench as narrator.
Emma would come in and
chuckle. I've forgotten how
good Winnie is! Memories
came back of reading to the
boys and yes, that girl Emma!





Eeyore was saying to himself, "This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it."
Winnie the Pooh

Much Ado

About Nothing
( not Sara at
Much Ado About Something)
is what we are reading
out loud in lit. class now.

I texted my college son
that David Tennant and
Catherine Tate ( from Dr.
Who ...British Show) are
playing Benedict and Beatrice
at the Wyndham in London
this summer. He texted me back
this : We don't live there!



Oh...well maybe it will come
to NY in the Fall.

If you know anything about
Dr. Who, you will get this
funny Shakespeare spoof
with those two. Funny
even if you don't know Dr.
Who ( but remember that
name while watching it)
and if you like British humor.

Another creature

I pulled up to pick up
Emma and while sitting
in the car in the parking
area ~~ there was a tiny
critter scampering across.
She ( yes, I imagine she was
a she) was just running with
all her might. She was tiny.
A mouse or a vole.

THEN a hawk swooped down
and sat on her with his claws.
His head just went back and
forth for a few minutes.

You know I even imagined that
tiny creature to survive. I then
thought THAT hawk is killing her.
My mind said ~~ HE IS KILLING
HER RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY
EYES. That is a really strange
thought when you just pull up
to pick up your daughter!

Noone was around to see what
I saw. Not even my Emma.

Then it took flight with
the dead mouse or vole.

No photos for this.
Just the one in my mind.

Oreo is our hero!

I got a call and a text this morning
when I was out that Emma screamed
when she opened her bedroom door
to find a MOUSE laid there by
Oreo ~~ dead!


Hope there is just 1 ~~!!

When you go to something extraordinary

You want to tell your friends.
You want to listen again.
You want to become a fan.

That is what happened on
Saturday night at a local
college who brought
RED PRIEST
named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest
for a concert.

We laughed and looked at
each other and said
THEY ARE GOOD!
From England ~~ Piers
Adams piping his recorder
as if it were part of his body!
A celloist who played it like
a guitar at times. A Jewish
Scottish fiddler with such
humor. A harpsichordist
who gave memories of Bach
and Handel. Superb!



For those in my home town:
students go free and the driver
because as they say SOMEONE
has to bring the student!
Don't you like THAT attitude in
this day. It certainly helps
support the arts.

There's nothing like music without
electricity too!

I am thankful for the
richness and joy in live
music. These in particular.
Much delight that was
poured into my soul.


~~ thankful for red costumes
~~ fabulous shoes on those Red Priests
~~ lively melodies from the classical tunes
~~ joy that comes from melodies
~~ Laughter from good performers
~~ hours of practice they did to get
where they are
~~ hearing that the violinist in the US
is different because Piers' wife,
the main violinist, have a young daughter
~~ That choice is very biblical. Stay home
with young daughter.Tour in UK and Europe.
~~ for a choir teacher who told us about this
concert

American Authors ....and Charlotte Mason

Just researching a bit on
the Parent's Reviews for
any American authors in
a PNEU curriculum. It
is quite a lovely warm outside
but windy. It beckons you.
Researching more on another
day!

Books

by Emmeline Steinthal
Volume 3, 1892/93, pgs. 71-73

America

The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)

True to the Old Flag (Henty)

With Lee in Virginia (Henty)

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Beecher Stowe)

The Fair God (Wallace)

A Great Treason (M. Hoppus)

Old Boston (Stephens)

Who else is so influenced by the Bard

I didn't know how deeply
Melville was influenced
by Shakespeare. A little
used paperback came in the
mail today: Call Me Ishmael.
(which I didn't pay very much
for it). We're almost finished with
discussing Moby Dick in my
literature class, I think this 1947
book has given me more to think
about ~~~ quoting from Melville
himself:

" those deep far-away things in him;
those occasional flashings-forth of
the intuitive Truth in him; those
short, quick probings at the very
axis of reality;-- these are the things
that make Shakespeare, Shakespeare."

Shakespeare is in Moby Dick
which is why we begin Much Ado
about Nothing next. Good follow
up, I'd say.

Does anyone know what other authors
have so many references to Shakespeare
like Melville?

Do any who are trenched in Charlotte
Mason's writings know what American
authors she used in her curriculum?

New Jane Eyre film

A new biography on
Judi Dench sent me to
a link on a new movie
coming out in March:
Jane Eyre.
Focus Films.
They did P&P.

Valentine's Gratitude

God is a delicious good . ( Thomas Watson )
( 1620-1686)

That cake is from 2 years ago!
That kitten has grown up!
Wasn't she cute!

As the sunny warms this Valentine's
Day, I think of God's love.
It is delicious!
I love that short sentence of the
Puritan pastor. Lectio Divina.

In thanksgiving , I am so very thankful
for a job for a dear friend . We've been
praying for almost a year. Unemployment
seemed to invade our lives in the past years
with so many budget cuts.
She starts here ON VALENTINE'S DAY.
What a love gift from the Lord.
You can read the letter from her
boss! He has a very good blog on the
revolution in Egypt.

It is important to remember that the Bible tells us that nations rise and fall, leaders come and go, but God Himself is the One who appoints and pulls down. Everything is under the sovereign control of God.

Meeting friends this afternoon
for coffee ~~ which is something
to be thankful for in the midst of
busy lives! If you go to the Friends
link, her Valentine CARD was a print of
her headliner. I was not home when
it arrived . I have a picture on my
text messages of it from my Emma
when she opened it!

"Romance is the deepest thing in life. Romance is deeper even than reality."
( GK CHESTERTON)

The power to live fully
is hidden in the truth of Christ's
commands:

Love the Lord with all your heart mind soul and strength. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Enjoy His presence .
Love Him with all.
He is a delicious good.
You are loved

Happy Valentine's Day!
May it be full of hugs!

Did you hear about the Sit in?

Wendell Berry was among
those in Kentucky who against
the EPA's Clean Water Act.
Read here.
And here.

Did you know it's Kale month?

February is Kale month:

Pyrde Sprootkalen!

February, from the Très riches heures du Duc de Berry

It's an evening to read

After celebrating finishing this book
yesterday:
MOBY DICK
( excellent descriptive
sentences that made my heart soar.
Students writing journals on it and
quotes in a Common Place Book )
I can read some books for pleasure.
At least for awhile: Thoreau's
Walden awaits! Before that is
Much Ado About Nothing.


"Call me Ishmael."

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

"Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love:
Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues;
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agen"t.

First Monday in February

I'm going to list in my journal
my numbered Gifts of Gratitude.
Hope you have started yours
via Ann Voskamp?

Just to name a few:

It was quite amazing to see
these birds swimming to the
shallows of the lake at my
sister's house:

Coots

Did you know this:
A flock of coots is known in the US as a cover.

So we saw a cover!

YES, I did learn I will be a GREAT-
Aunt. All of us Great Aunts agreed
we aged with the name GREAT put
in front of our names AUNT! This
will be the second Great Aunt for us
Great Aunts!!!!

Good food. Good time seeing family
and celebrating a new arrival to my
nephew and his wife. Good sermon
at my mother's church and sitting
by her very good friend. Between
Gail her friend and Gail my sister!
My eyes welled remembering her
funeral in that sanctuary. Tears
are good.

Weekend comes early

Heading out of town this
weekend starting tomorrow.
To my sister's. She lives in
a small village ( 2400) that
has many lakes. A retreat for
me ~~ she is on
one of those lakes!
And Emma is in this class so
she will do some bird watching!

We're going to a baby shower for
a nephew and his wife on
Saturday ( up to Chapel Hill).
Been knitting hats ( shhhhh).
A friend said today the baby is
then my nephew once removed
and I will be an Aunt once
removed! Does that make sense?!
I think she was kidding . But
what do you call a nephew's baby
to you the Aunt of the nephew?

Have a warm read this weekend!

La Piere ...The Prayer

William Bouguereau's Painting : La Piere
(1878)

Today, within the same hour, several
friends told me Prayers were answered.
In person and on the phone. I had prayed
for each request in the past week and
the past month, even over a year for one.
We had waited for answers.
I am amazed at the rain from heaven into
my ears as I listened to what God had answered.

Be encouraged. Waiting is worth it.